


And Stick On Tattoos

by PunkPinkPower



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-04
Updated: 2012-08-04
Packaged: 2017-11-11 09:24:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkPinkPower/pseuds/PunkPinkPower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Jungle Fury Rangers spend way more time together than is probably healthy, and RJ psychoanalyzes on his day off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Stick On Tattoos

There was something strange at the corner of Lily’s eye. 

Odd, he supposed, that he noticed her first. The others had equal oddness to their usual appearance, but for some reason Lily’s stood out. The purple star on the corner of her eye was also covered in glitter. 

She was doing something to Casey’s arm, who was having a heated debate about pink rangers with Dom. RJ checked his watch again to make sure, and it was nearly 11 o’clock but no one except for Fran--who didn’t actually live there--was out of their pajamas yet. 

“Excuse me,” RJ entered in his usual fashion, but no one seemed inclined to pay attention to him. 

Save for Fran. “Good morning!” She called happily and rushed to his side. Dear Fran. She never failed to answer all of his questions before he’d asked them. “We know it’s your day off but if it wasn’t you would have turned on the news like the rest of us and seen that there was a shipment of tomato’s that went out that were bad or contaminated or something and the government is recalling all of the tomato’s in the area because of this infection called salmonella which is excruciatingly painful according to my book of natural remedies, so not only do we have no tomato’s to make pizza’s with, anyone who saw the news won’t be eating any tomato products for weeks so business is going to go down but I figured it we started selling actual pies like I’ve been trying to get you to do forever that we could make up the difference-”

“Fran.” RJ stopped her, turned her back towards the group and steered her by her shoulders. “Salmonella, store closed, pies, got it. Breathe Fran.” 

Fran took in a deep breath as she was told and reclaimed her spot by Dom’s side. 

“I take it this is why we’re all… what are we doing exactly?” He eyed the dish of water and the washcloth on Casey’s arm, and it came to him. “Are those fake tattoos?” 

He sat down on a cushion across from Lily, who smiled over at him. “Pick one. We’re all decorating ourselves with good energy.” 

“We’re lounging.” Theo answered his earlier question, and RJ noticed him for the first time. He was happily clinging to Casey’s side, eyes closed and looking remarkably comfortable. Casey had the arm that Lily wasn’t tattooing around Theo, but he was clearly occupied still arguing with Dom. Dom was resting his head on Lily’s lap, looking far less interested in the debate than he was in braiding Fran’s hair. Fran was helping Lily with the tattoos while Dom played with her short brown hair, and RJ noticed she wasn’t wearing her glasses. 

“Well, if we’re lounging than I’d say we’re doing it pretty well.” RJ agreed, and Theo grinned but kept his eyes closed. “Fran, where are your glasses?” 

Fran looked startled. “Oh, I uh, decided to wear my contacts today.” She looked between Dom and RJ before shrugging, which RJ found odd. 

“Where are your innate powers of observation today, oh powerful one?” Casey quipped, finally paying attention to what else was going on. RJ had missed how the conversation about pink rangers had ended, too. 

“I think I left them in bed.” He admitted rather sheepishly, studying the tattoos Lily had handed him. “I don’t suppose any of these have any actual significance where good energy is concerned.” 

Lily narrowed her eyes at him. “They’re whatever you want them to be.” She said dangerously, and RJ looked back at her, startled. 

“They’re also Lisa Frank, so no.” Dom lifted his head to tell RJ but Lily smacked it back down. 

“But supposedly the glitter wards off evil spirits.” Casey laughed, studying the fiery shooting star that now adorned his arm. 

Lily proceeded to whack him with her wet wash cloth, and Theo objected at the spray of water with a grunt. 

“Ah, well,” RJ grinned at their play fighting, “in that case I think I’ll take the pink and purple yin yang.” 

The room was silent, and the group exchanged silent looks which turned into suppressed giggling very quickly. 

“What?” RJ asked, and at the same moment Fran exclaimed “I don’t even have any pink!” 

The group burst out into giggles, but Dom was reaching for the tattoos from RJ. He cut out RJ’s yin yang and then found a nice pink rose to cut out. He took the washcloth and plastered the pink rose on Fran’s cheek easily. 

“What did I miss?” RJ wondered at Lily, who just smiled and shook her head. 

“They’ve been arguing about the pros and cons of Fran becoming the pink ranger for the better part of an hour.” She explained, and Theo grunted again. 

“Please don’t get them started again.” He urged from his spot. RJ noticed a yellow sun shining brightly on his left wrist, and there was also a blue and red bird glittering on his neck. 

“Well, as entertaining as that might be, I’d have to recommend she study Phai Zu for at least a year before I’d ever allow it.” RJ meant to be teasing, but Fran wasn’t even paying attention. 

She was looking endearingly at Dom, who had just revealed the pink rose on her cheek. “Problem solved.” 

A split second later, Lily demanded “Give me your hand.” 

RJ complied, and Lily applied his pink and purple yin yang to his wrist. She placed the wash cloth over it and held it there, and then looked up at him and offered a smile. RJ smiled back, and glanced once more at the purple star by her eye. 

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were taking my pulse.” He teased, and Lily grinned.

“How do you know I’m not?” She asked back, and they raised eyebrows at the same time. 

“Okay, voting time!” Casey announced. “Now that she’s wearing pink she is clearly qualified for honorary ranger status.” 

Fran blushed. “Oh, Casey! Honestly.” 

“Everyone say Aye!” Casey commanded, and Theo propped himself up on an elbow. 

“You can’t just command everyone to agree. That’s not a vote.” Theo stated in his know it all way. 

“And what good is honorary ranger status, really?” Lily wanted to know. “All that does is limit your wardrobe and make you flakey!” 

“I think I’m offended.” Casey said calmly. 

“Why?” Dom wanted to know. “You’re an actual ranger, you’ve got an excuse!”

“If we say ‘Aye’ can we drop it?” Theo asked but Fran interrupted with “I’d love to be an honorary ranger.”

Everyone was talking and having fun, but RJ tapped Lily’s hand to remind her that his tattoo was finished. She removed the cloth with a smile and pulled off the paper, and then blew on his new tattoo to make sure it was dry before she let his hand go. 

His hand tingled. 

“Hey, if she wants to be one, I’m game.” Lily added to the conversation as RJ studied his tattoo. “It looks nice,” she told RJ as an aside. 

“Oh, let me see!” Fran was just as easily distracted from the ranger conversation, and she grabbed RJ’s outstretched hand and yanked. She pulled hard enough that the pillow he was sitting on slid forward, knocking him against Lily but pulling him considerably closer to Fran. “Sorry!” Fran apologized sheepishly, but she was studying his new tattoo unapologetically. 

“Okay, I’m in.” Theo was saying. He had rolled away from Casey and claimed a less mobile blanket to curl into. 

“Dom?” Casey reached over to pat Dom on the forehead almost patronizingly, but Dom batted his hand away like he was a pesky insect. 

“You know my vote.” He poked Fran, who squirmed but didn’t let go of RJ’s hand. 

“RJ?” Casey eyed him suspiciously, and RJ pretended to think for a moment. 

“That depends,” He said at last, waving his free hand in Casey’s direction. “Will she have to move in? Because I think this loft has all the vagabonds it can handle.” 

“Hey!” This time Casey was, indeed, offended, and he flicked water off his fingers at RJ, who stopped the water with a wave of his hand and made it fall back into the water bowl. 

Lily and Fran were talking amongst themselves now, paying no attention to the larger discussion happening. Fran was still holding onto RJ’s hand, and for some reason he didn’t feel like taking it from her. 

“Okay, majority is ruling, Fran is now the Honorary Pink Ranger!” Casey was saying. 

“If no one says anything he’s going to go on believing that he is the majority.” Theo mumbled, and Casey turned and smacked his butt. Theo yelped, and Casey laughed. 

Dom and RJ shared a look across Lily. If anything, Casey had at least confirmed the attraction. 

They were interesting, when they were all together like this. The six of them made a strange team, but they somehow found some kind of symbiotic existence together. When they were all together they were… simple. Honest. Things didn’t get nearly as confusing in his head. When he had them alone, any of them… everything got fuzzy. But here, like this… this was easy. 

“Does this at least mean we can celebrate? Cause there is a cake down there from a birthday party we had scheduled that got canceled…” Theo trailed off, and the room became silent as they contemplated. 

“Last one there has clean up!” Casey yelped as he leapt up and headed for the stairs. 

“No fair!” Dom shouted, grabbing his leg. Theo was right in front of him, tossing his blanket behind him. 

“Have fun with that Cub!” He called, but Casey was right behind them, tugging Dom’s head off Lily’s lap and twisting him around so that his feet went swinging past her and right into the bowl of water sitting by the tattoos. 

As Dom let Casey go it spilled onto the tattoo’s and Lily gasped in horror. “Oh no! They’re ruined!” 

This was, apparently, the most tragic thing that had ever happened to her. The wave of sadness that overcame her was palpable in the room, and he clearly was not the only one who felt it. 

“Oh, no, we can still use them.” Fran was reaching around her for the tattoos and the washcloth, trying to consol. Dom had remained behind as well, and he began ripping the paper into tiny pieces, presumably to separate the individual tattoos. 

“Lily, hand.” RJ commanded, and Fran handed him the washcloth and a random tattoo. He grabbed Lily’s hand and applied it, holding in place with his thumb. 

Lily was grinning at them as she watched them desperately try to save her tattoos. Dom had ripped them all apart and Fran was plastering what she could to any skin she could find. She had three on herself, put one of Lily’s ankle, and stuck another on Dom’s arm. She them continued to tattoo RJ and doused all of the tattoos with water until they had used them all. It was a full out tattoo triage. 

They were all holding each others tattoo’s in place while they waited for them to set. RJ was holding onto Lily’s hand while she held a tattoo in place on Fran’s arm with the same hand and one on Dom’s leg with the other. Fran had a hand on both RJ and Dom, while Dom ensured Lily’s ankle stayed steady. 

It was… relatively peaceful, the four of them sprawled over each other like this. Lily’s spirit was glowing again, clearly touched by her friends immediate rescue of the tattoos. Dom was… complacent, and Fran was beaming. 

Himself, he was just… peaceful. It was a good feeling, and the first time he’d truly felt it in ages. 

Casey and Theo returned with plates and the cake some time later, startling all of them out of their happy circle. They pealed the papers off their tattoos to reveal all of the new ones, and Lily happily leaned her head on RJ’s shoulder as she observed. 

“You guys go tattoo crazy while we were gone?” Casey joked, passing around the plates of cake. 

“You spilled the water over all of them when you left!” Lily objected immediately, her head shooting up. 

Dom was quick to pacify her with fork full of cake. She giggled when he missed and got it on her face and they had to coordinate his left hand feeding her. She rested her head back on his shoulder while she chewed. 

“Oh, now my blanket is all wet.” Theo complained before smacking Casey upside the head. 

“You can use mine.” Fran offered, picking up what was presumably Dom’s white blanket and handing it over. 

They passed the cake around and continued to squabble and giggle for the rest of the morning. It was nice, and the entire room was contented. 

Tomato poisoning had a funny way of bringing people together, he supposed. RJ began thinking that it might be a good idea to coordinate group days off from now on, with the excuse of promoting team collaboration. 

He knew that sooner or later he would have to get them up to train or do something mildly productive, like perhaps making Casey test the tomato’s in the kitchen, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it now. Now they were not rangers. 

They were just a group of friends, taking advantage of their time together with cake, nondiscriminatory cuddling, blankets, and stick on tattoo’s.


End file.
